Park Homes Policy Forum

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Expose the Negligence of Abusive Park Home Operators

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About Our Organization

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Welcome. You have successfully reached the website of the Park Homes Policy Forum. We are a newly established national park homeowner member organization formed to ensure that the government effectively addresses the common and documented abuses and negligence of an expanding minority of rogue park owners in the United Kingdom. These park owners usually operate in the residential retirement park home sector.

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Their exploitations can range from blatant or disguised harassments to concealed fraud, usually imposed upon the more vulnerable and those, individually or collectively, who fear retribution should the park owners be reported or confronted.

The PHPF brings together its members to ensure that the 2018 review covers all issues and not only those that result to the tweaking of prevailing legislation, leaving park homeowners in the same position as before. There are serious problems that the government is fully aware of and must address.

Our Mission

Our mission is to ensure that following the 2018 government review of Park Home legislation, viable measures would be put in place; thus, making sure the services that are paid for are provided and that threats, intimidations and fraud are properly penalized whilst removing non-compliant rogue operators from the industry.

What Are Park Homes?

For those who are new to this housing market, park homes are prefabricated homes that are equivalent to the size and fittings of a conventional bungalow. Park homes can cost just as much as a bungalow, sometimes even more. For historical reasons only, they are officially classified as ‘caravans’ or ‘mobile homes’ even though they are unlikely to be moved once positioned on private land.

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The park owner and residents are expected to adhere to the terms of their Written Agreements under the Mobile Homes Act and to the rules that usually apply to each individual park. However, important terms of this Act have consistently left gaping loopholes and in many aspects, disregarded the fundamentals of a binding contract between residents and park owners, otherwise described as ‘The Crooks Charter’.

Some of these terms were drafted by the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA), the park industry trade body. These were accepted and unchallenged by successive governments, whilst the BH&HPA currently acts as secretariat to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Park Homes, whose role is to advise and influence government.

Loopholes in the Law

Research indicates that there are some 1.5 million homes in the United Kingdom that are prefabricated but escape the classification of park homes as ‘caravans’ because the government has not addressed this absurdity.

Well-funded and lobbying park owners prefer this classification because the opportunities for exploitations are greater; they are not subject to building control regulations and are also uniquely rewarded by the unearned payments of a 10% commission of the sales price of each home whenever it is sold.

In 2013, the government responded to the Park Home Owners JUSTICE Campaign and introduced new measures intended to prevent what is known as ‘sales blocking’, a fraud that enabled park owners to obstruct sales so that they could buy homes cheaply. The ‘plots’ redeveloped with new homes that offer high profits and became the subject of new Agreements with usually increased fees.

The government also introduced wider powers to enable local authorities to tackle other problems, providing access to advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service and the Tribunals Service for the resolving of specific disputes between home and park owners. These were important changes. However, in practice, few local authorities took up the challenge.

Tribunals Service applications often involve more user administration than a county court and some park owners have found new ways to evade the rules intended to prevent the blocking of sales. In 2013, the government said that they would review the effects of these measures and the final call for evidence closed on February 16, 2018.

Nevertheless, it has already been revealed by serving members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Park Homes that ‘the issues and consultation covers may seem insufficient and will not address all of the problems that bedevil the park home sector. However, the reality is that this consultation (parts1 and 2) is what the government has committed to’.

Our Purpose

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The Park Homes Policy Forum is, therefore, calling for a comprehensive review that not only scrapes the surface but also incites subsequent radical measures to restore the lives of all park homeowners to what they should have been. Our objectives are fully endorsed and supported by the Park Home Owners JUSTICE Campaign, the Independent Park Home Advisory Service (IPHAS) and the National Association of Park Home Residents (NAPHR).

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These organizations wish that the PHPF succeeds in its endeavours. Our organisation is also backed by other campaigners and commentators. Our efforts are highly relevant to homeowners who have so far escaped the clutches of the many rogue park owners; because tomorrow their park could be sold from under their feet to convicted or free criminals. Then, their own problems will begin.

The time to force a full and radical review of park home legislation is now because a further government review is unlikely to happen in the several years to come.